‘clever clogs’: meaning and origin
a person who behaves as if he or she knows everything—UK, colloquial, 1860—the irony of the expression lies in the fact that clogs are mere functional pedestrian objects
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‘from clogs to clogs in three generations’: meaning and origin
wealth gained in one generation of a family will be lost by the third generation—UK, 1842, as “there is but one generation in Lancashire between clog and clog”—refers to clogs being typically worn by factory workers
Read More‘Z-car’: meaning and origin
a police patrol car—UK, 1959—originally any of the special crime police patrol cars used in Lancashire—from the radio call-sign ‘Z’ allotted to such cars—popularised by the British television series ‘Z Cars’ (1962-78)
Read More‘mischief night’: original meaning
Yorkshire & Lancashire (northern England), first half of the 19th century—the evening of 30th April (May Eve), on which people traditionally indulged in mischievous pranks
Read More‘fish and chips’: meaning and origin
a dish consisting of deep-fried battered fish fillets served with potato chips—Lancashire, England, 1886 (1879, as ‘fried fish and chipped potatoes’)
Read More‘powfagged’: meaning and origin
meaning: ‘extremely tired’—origin (Lancashire, England, 1859): from the noun ‘pow’, variant of ‘poll’, denoting ‘a person’s head’, and the adjective ‘fagged’, meaning ‘extremely tired’
Read More‘soft Mick’: meaning and origin
Lancashire, England, 1939—used in similative and comparative phrases such as ‘as —— as soft Mick’ and ‘more —— than soft Mick’, the noun ‘soft Mick’ (also ‘Soft Mick’) indicates a great quantity or degree
Read More‘vinegar trip’: meanings and origin
Lancashire, England, 1973—a wasted journey; a weird way of behaving; a fit of ill temper—origin unknown—one hypothesis is that when wine boats from the Mediterranean arrived in Liverpool, the wine was occasionally sour and therefore useless
Read More‘savoury duck’: meaning and origin
Lancashire, England, 1833—a faggot, a meatball, “a compound of onions, flour, and small pieces of pork” (The Liverpool Echo, 20 August 1880)—probably one of the common dishes humorously named after daintier items of food
Read More‘knuckle-sandwich’ | ‘knuckle-butty’: meanings and origin
‘knuckle-sandwich’ USA, 1940—‘knuckle-butty’ UK, 1972—a punch to the mouth (or to the stomach)—the image is of a sandwich of knuckles being forced into the mouth (or into the stomach) of the person who is punched
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